Yesterday evening, SUICIDE SQUAD director David Ayer released the first official image of the cast that makes up Task Force X – AKA the “Suicide Squad as well as a single image of Will Smith as a masked Deadshot. Here’s the image of the cast…

Here’s a few thoughts about the cast pic from a Batman on film POV…

The first thing that I looked at in the pic was Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. I’m glad they went with a look that’s clearly based on the character’s current comic book aesthetic as well as how Harley is depicted in the ARKHAM Batman video games. Of course, it’s pretty much what I suspected she’d look like – I never thought Ayer would put her in an actual red and black jester’s costume as that would look ridiculous in a live-action film…

Staying on the Harley topic, it looks to me as if Robbie (as Harley) sports some tattoos that are very similar to the ones found on Jared Leto’s Joker. Overall, I think Ms. Robbie looks great as Harley and I like the look. Here’s hoping she doesn’t do her best (and obnoxious) Calliope Jones impersonation for Harley’s voice…

I’m on the fence when it comes to Killer Croc. While I never thought they’d go with literal half-man/half-crocodile as we’ve seen with some interpretations of the character, my original thought is that it’s a little much. I thought they’d go with something similar to Lee Bermejo’s Killer Croc in JOKER – and this is close to that – but it’s still a bit, well, much. I’ll reserve final judgement until I see the film and how ‘ol Waylon is portrayed…

Will Smith as Deadshot looks like, well, Deadshot. His costume is pretty comic-book faithful, yes? I will say that must be complete torture wearing that mask while filming! I imagine having your entire head covered – except for your right eye – must be pretty damn claustrophobic and hot…

Mogo doesn’t socialize and neither does The Joker. Don’t think that Jared Leto’s Joker NOT being included in either of SUICIDE SQUAD’s cast pics – one from a cast reading and the new official image released last night – is a coincidence. It seems to me that The Joker will not be a full member of Task Force X and will be reluctantly recruited by Amanda Waller only because they need him. And of course, The Joker always has his own agenda…which methinks won’t jibe with the squad’s official directive…

And finally, with The Joker, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Deadshot, and Katana included in the film, is SUICIDE SQUAD, is there anyone who believes this is pretty much a Batman movie without Batman? (And both Bruce Wayne and Batman are in it!)

David Ayer is directing SUICIDE SQUAD, which stars Jared Leto as The Joker, Will Smith as Deadshot and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. Also in the cast are Joel Kinnaman, Cara Delevingne, Viola David, Adam Beach, Ike Barinholtz, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Scott Eastwood.